Directory device.



W. C. CUTLER.

DIRECTORY DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APILB, 1914.

Patented Dec. 15, 1914.

2 BHBETSSHEET l.

HA Norems PEYERS ca. PHOTO-LITHn WASHINGTON D r W. C. CUTLER.

DIRECTORY DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8. 1914.

1,1 20,909. Patented Dec. 15, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ggggi s wyifks cu PHD/'0 urrm WASHINLTQN D c opening a door or lid, the power thus stored,

WILLIAM C. CUTLER, or Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

DIRECTORY DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 15', 1914.

Application filed April 8, 1914. Serial No, 830,383.

T 0 all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM C. CUTLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Directory Device, of which the following is a specification. I This invention relates to directory devices in which a series of cards are respectively provided with information which may be exhibited by bringing any of the cards into view, and one 0b ect is to provide a carrier for the various cards which is arranged in a vertical position, thereby economizing horizontal floor space and yet afi'ording ample capacity for a sufficiently large number of cards. I

Another object is to store power in the machine to operate the shiftingof a card into display position by the movement of being ready for use as soon a'sthe operator has selected the card he desires to have exhibited and at such time, by pressing a but ton, the stored power is allowed to operate and shift the selected card into, displaying position.

Another object is to secure" a necessary card shifting movement by a different movement of the power operating means, thereby economizing space.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device with the door opened. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the device on line c azf, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the lower end of the curtain, showing a card sustained thereby. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line .11*a3, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a cross section on line m a: Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a cross section on line .v w, Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a cross section of the setting lever. elevation of the setting lever. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the cable mechanism for operating the carrier.

I designates the case which is provided with a door 2 hinged to swing in a vertical plane and to form a shelf when opened and to reveal an index plate 3 and give access to a setting lever 4: which carries an index finger 5. In the upper part of the case is a transparent panel 6 through which an 6X- hibiting card is displayed when it is moved into displaying position.

A display card 7 is shown in detail in Fig.

3 and is provided with a stifiening rod 8 Fig. 8 is a front along its upper edge with projecting fingers 9 which are adapted to beengaged by lifting brackets 10 carried by a rod 11 on the lower end of a curtain 12. The card 7 may contain any desired form of information or matter which is to be displayed, The cards 7 are. normally supported. and moved into selected position by a carrier comprising a pair of belts 13 which run over a pair of lower pulleys 14 rigidly mounted on a shaft 15, and over a pair of upper pulleys 16 which are rigidly mounted on a shaft 17. Each of the belts 13 is provided with a series of projections 18 which are regularly spaced apart and are adapted to receive and support the fingers 9 ,ofthe respective cards, and as the upper pulleys 16 are of a smaller diameter than the lower pulleys 14:, a suflicient angle is given to the vertical runsof the belts 13 to permit the respective cards which hang on the projections 18, to hang vertically overlapping each other without interference and such cards as are moved into position at the upper end of the carrier are suspended at distances relatively wide apart to enable the brackets 10 of the curtain 12 to readily engage the pins 9 of the selected card and lift. the same from its position on the carrier without interfering with the adjacent cards on each side of the selected card. v

As clearly shown in Fig. 9, two sheaves 19 and 19 are rigidly mounted on shaft 15 and a cable 20 has one end secured to one sheave 19 and its other end secured to the other sheave 19. The cable 20'passes upwardly from the sheave 19 to a sheave 21' which is loosely mounted on shaft 17 and thence passes forward over an idler sheave 22, and thence to the setting lever 4 to which it is secured. The other portion of the cable 20 passes from the sheave 19 upwardly over thefront face thereof and'on to the back face of the sheave 21 which is loosely mounted on shaft 17 and then passes forward over the idler sheave'22 and then to the setting lever 4. Thus a move ment of the setting lever 4 to the right for example will rotate'the sheaves 21 in opposite directions and the crossed loop of the cable will result in turning both sheaves 19 in the same direction and also turn both pairs of sheaves 22 in the same direction, thereby moving the carrier to actuate the first p'ortionthereof upward. By swinging the setting lever 4: to the left the connection will actuate the carrier in a direction to move down its front portion and raise 1ts rear portion. Thus the index plate 3 being suitably marked, the setting lever 4 may be moved with its index finger 5 over the index plate 3 which will result in bringing a corresponding display card 7 into central position at the top of the belts and in register with the lifting brackets 10. It will be understood that the belts 13 are spaced apart sufliciently to permit the cards to freely swing between the belts during the movement of the carrier, and during this movement of the carrier the brackets lie somewhat below the path described by the fingers 9 of the various cards as they sweep around the upper circle of their movement so that there is no interference.

The mechanism for shifting the curtain and lifting a card into view comprises a pair of cables 23 which are connected by links 24 with the upper end 25 of the curtain 12, the curtain 12 passing over a roller 26. The other ends of the cables 23 pass over idle sheaves 27 on a shaft 28 and are connected to levers 29 pivoted to brackets 30 and links 31 are connected to the other ends of levers 29 and to lugs 32 on vertically slidable shift rods 33. The lower end of each shift rod 33 is slotted at 34 and engages the upper end of the links 35, and the links 35 are connected to arms 36 on a shaft 37 which extends through a revoluble hydraulic check 38. Coil extension springs 39 are connected between hooks 40 on links 35 and books 41 on shift rods 33 and cables 42 are connected to links 35 and pass over sheaves 43, thence up and over sheaves 44, and then forward through holes 45 in the case and are at tached to the door 2. The shift rods 33 are provided with detents 46 which are normally engaged by horizontal slidable bolts 47, the latter being held yieldingly in engagement with detent 46 by extension springs 48. Levers 49 are pivoted at 50 and their upper ends are adapted to engage lugs 51 on bolts 47 to slide the bolts 47 forward and disengage them from detents 46 when levers 49 are rocked, and the lower ends of levers 49 have pins 52 which engage the slotted ends of arms 53 which are mounted on asha'ft which extends across the front of the machine feed from the cards 7.

Rigidly secured to the shaft 54 is an arm 55 which has a beveled upper end against which bears a beveled segment 56. The seg ment 56 is mounted rigidly on the lower end of arod 57 which is slidable longitudinally on the setting lever 4, and a spring 58 tends to hold the rod 57 in upper position, the upper end of rod 57 forming a button 59 at the upper end of the setting lever 4. A bracket 60 with a pointed locking pin 61 pr iece from the rod 57 and the pin 61 is adapted to enter any one of a series of holes 62 formed in a stationary segment plate 63 to accurately position the angular setting of the setting lever '4.

The operation is as follows: The person desiring to use the device first opens the door 2 which acts through cables 42 to move down. links 35, thereby placing springs 39 under tension, shift rods 33 being prevented from moving down by bolts 47 which engage detents 46. Having opened the door 2 the operator then swings the setting lever 4 into the desired position which he readily determines by means of the index finger 5 moving over the index plate 3, and this swinging movement of the setting lever 4 operates through the cables 20 and before described connections to operate the carrier and bring the desired display card 7 into registration with the lifting bracket 10. The operator then presses the button 59 which lowers rod 57 and the first portion of the movement causes the end of pin 61 to enter the associated hole 62, thereby firmly holding the setting lever 4 in accurate position to insure perfect registration of the lifting bracket 10 with fingers 9; a farther downward movement of the rod 57 moves pin 61 deeper in hole 62 and causes the segment 56 to rock arm 55 rearward thereby causing arms 53 to swing levers 49 and actuate bolts 47 forward thereby releasing detents 46, whereupon springs 39 pull down shift rods 33 and the latter acting through links 31 and other connections with the curtain 12 pull down the upper end of the cur tain 25, therebv lifting its lower end and the card 7 with it into view behind the transparent panel 6. Sudden movement of the parts as thus actuated by springs 39 is prevented by the hydraulic check 36. The number of cards used is about half the number of projections 13 as shown and no card is ever moved lower than the lower shaft 15, as lower than this would allow the card to slide off. The card thus selected remains in position until the person closes the door 2, whereupon the coil torsion spring 64 within the roller 26 acts to draw up on the,

cables 23, lift the shift rods, and lower the curtain 12 and restore all the parts to normal position, including the card 7. The cable 23 when thus retracted acts through its connections with shift rods 33 to lift the latter and this is accomplished as springs 39 are not under tension and their lower ends are not positively retained by links 35 and act to move up links 35 and arms 36 and swing shaft 37 reversely through the hydraulic check 33, this movement of the parts being perfectly free and not opposing material resistance to the action of spring 64. This retraction movement of links 35 pulls on cables 42 and takes up the slack therein as fast as any slack is produced by the clos ing movement of the door 2, It Should be understood that the tension of spring 64 is comparatively slight and does not appre ciably retard the opening movement of the curtain or corresponding movements of the other parts when impelled by the springs 39.

What I claim is:

1. A series of display cards, a carrier therefor comprising a pair of belts with projections thereon, pulleys supporting said belts nearly vertically, said cards lying between said belts and each of said cards having projections which engage the projections on the belts, allowing a vertical sliding movement of the uppermost card out of or into engagement with its associated projection on the belts, selective means for turning said belts to bring any of said cards into position at the top of the uppermost pulley, and means for sliding the selected card at the top upwardly from the belts into displaying position.

2. A series of display cards, a carrier therefor comprising a pair of belts with projections thereon, pulleys supporting said belts nearly vertically, said cards lying between said belts and each of said cards having projections which engage the projections on the belts, allowing a vertical sliding movement of the uppermost card out of or into engagement with its associated projections on the belts, selective means for moving said belts to bring any of said cards into selected position at the top, means for storing power to actuate a selected card and move it into display position, said power means being controlled by a manually operated device.

3. A series of display cards, a carrier therefor comprising a pair of belts with projections thereon, pulleys supporting said belts nearly vertically, said cards lying between said belts and each of said cards hav ing projections which engage the projections on the belts, allowing a vertical sliding movement of the uppermost card out of or into engagement with its associated projections on the belts, a pivoted lever, a cable connected to said lever, and sheaves over which said cable runs, said sheaves being operatively connected with said belts, power means for moving a selected card into display position, a button carried by said lever, and means operated by said button for controlling said power means.

4. A series of display cards, a carrier therefor comprising a pair of belts with projections thereon, pulleys supporting said belts nearly vertically, said cards lying between said belts and each of said cards having projections which engage the projections on the belts, allowing a vertical sliding movement of the uppermost card out of or into engagement with its associated projections on the belts, a pivoted lever, va cable connected to said lever, and sheaves over which said cable runs, said sheaves being operatively connected with said belts, power means for moving a selected card into display position, a button carried by said lever, means operated by said button for controlling said power means, a plate with a series of perforations, and a hook adapted to engage in any of said perforations to hold said lever in accurate position, said hook being operated by said button.

5. A series of display cards, a carrier therefor comprising a pair of belts with projections thereon, pulleys supporting said belts nearly vertically, said cards lying between said belts and each of said cards having projections which engage the projections on the belts, allowing a vertical sliding movement of the uppermost card out of or into engagement with its associated projections on the belts, a pivoted lever, a cable connected to said lever, and sheaves over which said cable runs, said sheaves being operatively connected with said belts, power means for moving a selected card into display position, a button carried by said lever, said power means having a detent, a spring pressed bolt slidably engaging the detent, a pivoted lever for sliding the bolt out of engagement with the detent, a pivoted arm for operating said latter lever, another arm rigidly connected with the first arm, a beveled segment engaging the latter arm, a sliding rod on the selecting lever carrying said segment, said slidable rod being operated by said button to depress the segment, tilt the arm, and release the bolt from the detent to permit the power means to operate.

6. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said lower pulleys having a slightly greater diameter than the upper pulleys to cause the vertical runs of the belts to be at a slight angle from the verticalsaid belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable card lifting means with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the card lifting means ascends, and means for raising the card lifting means.

7. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the curtain lifts, a case inclosing said mechanism, a door for said case, and means operated by said door for elevating said curtain.

8. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the curtain lifts, spring means for elevating said curtain, means for placing said spring means under a tension, means for restraining the spring means from elevating said curtain. and manually controlled means for releasing said spring means.

9. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets. adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the curtain lifts, spring means for elevating said curtain, a case inclosing said mechanism, a door on said case, selective means for operating said belts, said selective means being covered by said door when the door is closed, means for restraining the operating of said spring means, and manually controlled means associated with said selective means for releasing said restraining means to permit the spring means to actuate the curtain.

10. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated car when the curtain lifts, a pair of shift rods, a pair of pivoted levers, links connected between said. levers and the shift rods, cables connected between said levers and said curtain, springs connected at one end to said shift rods, operating links connected at one end to said springs, a case inclosing said elements, a door for said case, and cables connected between said door and said operating links.

11. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the curtain lifts, a pair of shift rods, a pair of pivoted levers, links connected between said levers and the shift rods, cables connected between said levers and said curtain, springs connected at one end to said shift rods, operating links connected at one end to said springs, a case inclosing said elements, a door for said case, cables connected between said door and said operating links, means for restraining the movement of said shift rods, and manwally controlled means for releasing the shift rods to permit them to elevate the curtain.

12. A pair of upper pulleys, a pair of lower pulleys, a pair of belts mounted on the respective pulleys, said belts having projections from their faces, a series of display cards with lifting fingers projecting from their upper edges, and engaging between the projections on said belts, said belts being spaced apart to permit the cards to swing between them, a vertically movable curtain with a pair of brackets on its lower end projecting under the circular path of travel of the lifting fingers of the cards as they pass over the upper pulleys, said lifting brackets adapted to engage the uppermost pair of lifting fingers to lift the associated card when the curtain lifts, a pair of shift rods, a pair of pivoted levers. links.

connected between said levers and the shift rods, cables connected between said levers and said curtain, springs connected at one end to said shift rods, operating links connected at one end to said springs, a case inclosing said elements, a door for said case, cables connected between said door and said operating links, means for restraining the movement of said shift rods, manually controlled means for releasing the shift rods to permit them to elevate the curtain, and means for checking the operating of the shift rods to a uniform speed of operating movement in elevating the curtain and permitting the elevating mechanism to freely 15 WILLIAM C. CUTLER.

In presence of G. F. HACKLEY, LORRAINE E.- DURROW.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

